Saturday, 30 July 2011

From Eleutherotypia, 29.07.2011.The important archaeological find of the Papyri of Oxyrynchus (500 B.C.-1000 A.D.) has been known since the beginning of the last century.

Part of it has been kept since its discovery in Oxford, where attempts to decode the material continue. The latest discovery, according to the Times, is an unknown Gospel (3rd cent.) which recounts cases of exorcisms performed by Christ. The decoding of this document has not been completed, nor has that of many thousand other papyri, which include texts of great importance (including works of Aristotle, Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, Archilochus, Saphfo and others). In order to decode this cast material the researchers in Oxford are not enough. For this reason they have chosen to use technology, asking the help of surfers worldwide: they have uploaded scanned versions of 200,000 pieces of papyri to the site www.ancientlives.organd, using specialised software they ask visitors to identify letters, allowing for the reading of each scrap of papyrus!

A.M. Note:

The whole process is easy to understand and fun! A useful way to brush up your palaeographical skills!!

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Weary Herakles bust to be returned by US to Turkey

The two halves of the statue (top half in Boston MOFA, lower half in Antalya museum)

The stunning piece portrays the demigod Hercules

The top half of the Weary Herakles statue, which was bought by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1982, is to be returned to its native Turkey.

After an ongoing dispute, the MFA will reunite the bust with its lower half at the Antalya Museum later this year.

The announcement is seen as a victory for Turkey which is trying to retrieve artefacts it believes have been looted throughout the years.

It is thought the full statue will return to Boston on a short-term loan.

The top half of the sculpture of weary demigod Hercules was purchased in 1981 from a German dealer, by the MFA and late New York art collecter Leon Levy.

A year later, it was displayed at the US museum before being put into storage in 2007.

Turkish archaeologists were convinced the bust had been looted and taken from the country. At the same time, the lower half of the statue was discovered in 1980 at Perge in southern Turkey.

The MFA always denied that was the case, insisting the bust could have been found "any time since the Italian Renaissance".

Speaking to the Times newspaper, Katherine Getchell from the Boston Museum, said: "It's only in the last couple of years that they've presented us with photos and other evidence of looting from that site."

This is the latest victory for Turkey's campaign to track down lost antiquity.

In May, the Pergamon Museum in Germany agreed to return a Hittite sphinx after the Turkish Culture Minister threatened to ban German archaeologists from digs in the country.

Ertugrul Gunay told the Times that the country plans to "fight in the same way for all our other artefacts".

Despite the declaration that "It's only in the last couple of years that they've presented us with photos and other evidence of looting from that site", the video (see above) shows that casts of the two pieces had been fitted together. The test appears to have taken place in September 1992 (see the Boston Globe article). After this test - which proved beyond doubt the origin of the statue, the museum decided to switch its defence, arguing that the date of exportation could have been prior to 1906, as Turkish law protects only artefacts smuggled out after that date.

Sunday, 24 July 2011

The larger modern Greek cities often strike the arriving visitor as an inhuman monstrosities, sweltering masses of ugliness and chaos. Yet, as is sometimes the case, first impressions can be mistaken, and islands of beauty can be discovered by the discerning eye, carefully hidden from those too sloth to seek them.

This is inevitably the case of Athens, whose millennia of history guarantee that there are hidden treasures to satisfy all.

Yet today I shall speak of a thing of beauty that should not be considered a secret or a mystery, as it is an official festival of the Greek state, and thus should be widely publicised. Indeed for many locals it is an event eagerly awaited each year, yet few foreigners ever get to hear about it.

I refer to the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, which takes place each year from July to early September. Its programme includes performances of music, dance, theatre and exhibitions of visual arts, with the participants often being the most illustrious companies from around the world.

The Herodus Atticus Odeon at the foot of the Acropolis.

And yet it is not the performers - who usually range from excellent to superb - that make this festival unique. It is the venues that make the experience unique both for those on the stage as for those watching. My first experience of this was at the age of four, when I was taken to the Ancient Odeon of Herodus Atticus at the foot of the Acropolis, to listen to a magnificent Carmina Burana. Despite my age and the late hour at which the performance ended I was so enchanted that I wanted to stay on after its ending, not wishing to leave the magic which I felt all around me...

The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus

Since then I have eagerly gone to performances both in the Herodus Atticus Odeon -especially for classical music - and the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, where modern productions of both ancient dramas and modern theatre in a truly unique setting, allow for the added experience of feeling how the ancients must have experienced theatre.

Maybe it is because I am not going to Greece this summer that I wanted to share this, hoping for a dreamy echo of some mystical magic...

If you want to fit in a performance or two while in Greece, the best place to start is the official site of the festival with information on venues and the full programme and offers the possibility to buy tickets online. Although many people do not respect this, it should be remembered that the two sites mentioned are archaeological sites and should be respected as such. Please do not litter and do not wear high heals!

Friday, 22 July 2011

A rich American collector bought from a coin auction in New York in 2000 an Archaïc hoard of coins from ancient Abdera.

The hoard bought by 54-year old Jonathan Kagan was made up of 22 silver coins, which he delivered last year in September to the Consulate of Greece in New York, having previously studies them and published his conclusions in a volume dedicated to the great American numismatist John H. Kroll.

His desire was that the hoard enrich the collection of the Numismatic Museum of Athens, in honour of the professor of the University of Texas J. H. Kroll, whose work in a landmark in the study of the coinage of Athens.

How much did the acquisition cost?

The hoard is made up of three didrachms, a drachm, a hemidrachm, two obols and fifteen hemiobols. The coins first appeared in commerce in London in 2000 and were divided. Some appeared in auction catalogues. Greece did not claim them, evidently because it had no evidence of illegal exportation from the country.

Mr Kagan is a director of a company that is active in hi-tech products in New York; he has a degree from Harvard and completed his post-graduate studies in Oxford. He obtained the greater part of the hoard in 2000. He is a collector himself, and in the past has offered pieces from his collection to various American museums. He admires ancient art and his wife is Ute Wartenberg-Kagan, head of the American Numismatic Society, prolific writer on ancient Greek numismatics.

How much did the acquisition of the 22 rare coins of Abdera cost? "I do not know. But whether he bought them for a cent or for five millions, what is important is the gesture, which shows that the world is now sensitive and responds to our calls for the return of antiquities", Despoina Evgenidou, director of the Numismatic Museum of Athens told us yesterday. She is already working on the exhibition of the hoard, which will be ready during the second half of November.

The scientific value of the coins is great. They prove that in this early time, the 6th century B.C., people used coins and, what is more, small silver fractions of the drachma, which a few years later were replaced by bronze coins. These coins were not destined to pay taxes or to buy grain from other regions. They were the means to cover everyday needs (food, household objects). "The larger exchanges, as the payment of taxes and long-distance commerce, where largely covered by the silver series, meaning the octadrachms and the tetradrachms", claims the director of the Numismatic Museum. The existence of this treasure shows that moneyed societies existed in very early times. It also tells us what the coinage of Abdera at the end of the 6th century was.

Apollo and Gryffin

"Itis a very important donation, because not only does it enrich the numismatic series of Abdera that we have in the Numismatic Museum, but it adds to a very important section of our collections, that of coin hoards", underlines mrs Evgenidou.

Abdera was founded, according to myth, by Hercules, to honour the memory of his comrade Abderus, who had been killed by the mares of Diomedes. The first founder was the Klazomenian Timesios in 654 B.C. The city was refounded in 545 B.C., when migrants from the ionian town of Teos arrived, escaping enslavement by the Persians. The coins of the new inhabitants were similar to those of their old home. On the reverse they bore the head of Apollo and on the obverse a Griffin, the monster of myth that was considered to guard gold and silver mines. This is the type to be found on the coins offered by mr Kagan. The most important ones are those almost invisible to the eye: the small silver fractions that circulated for a few years before being replaced by larger bronze coins.

1. The image that illustrates the original article (not reproduced here) has nothing to do with the hoard under discussion. It is an image from the Hoard Northern Syria, Manbij (?), 2010 (see here), comprised of tertradrachms and drachms of Philip II and Alexander III.2. The complete title of the publication mentioned is: Jonathan H. Kagan, "Small Coinage and the Beginning of Coinage at Abdera", Agoranomia: Studies in Money and Exchange presented to John H. Kroll, New York 2006, 49-59.3. The complete composition, as presented by Kagan: 5 Didrachms, 2 Drachms, 2 Hemidrachms (first known), 2 Obols, 18 Hemiobols. Total 29.4. The early coins of Abdera did not have the Apollo type. They bore the Griffin on the obverse and an incuse square on the reverse (see photo, above). These are the types that the coins from this hoard bore.5. For the coinage of Abdera see: J.M.F. May, The Coinage of Abdera, London 1966.

A ceremonial double axe, dated to c. 600 B.C. was brought to light by archaeologists in Bulgaria during excavations carried out in the palace of the rulers of the Kingdom of the Odryses, who were the strongest tribe of ancient Thrace. The iron axe, 22 cm long was discovered near the main gate of the fortified living place of the kings - today's hill of Kozi Gramandi - and, although it is the second that comes to light in an archaeological site of the region, it is considered an especially important discovery, as archaeologists are still trying to understand its exact use.

The double axe found in the digs of Kozi Gramadi.

"The Lavrys, as it was called by the Greeks, was used more for certain ceremonies and less for military purposes or as a household item", explains the head of the dig Ivan Kristoff. Another hypothesis, based on representations in tombs of ancient Macedonia and of the tomb discovered in the Haskovo region, is that the double axe was used in the royal hunt.

Didrachme of Pixodaros (340-334 B.C.), Carian Satrap, bearing the head of Apollo on the obverse and Zeus Labrandos standing r. on the reverse. Künker 136 (10.03.2008), 653.

"If not by the ruler himself, maybe by his comrades", says the archaeologists. "In this sense, the discovery of the iron weapon in the ancient Thracian palace is not a coincidence", he adds. He explains that the lavrys in ancient Greek mythology was the double axe of Zeus Labrandos, who was worshiped in Labranda of Karia, and is represented standing and holding a lavrys over his right shoulder.

Coin of Amadokos I (400-386 B.C.) showing a horse on the obverse and a double axe surrounded by the inscription AMA[Δ]OKO. G. Hirsch 271 (17.02.2011), lot 1801.

It must be noted that the first representations of a lavrys are dated to the 2nd millennium B.C., while in ancient Thrace the oldest are dated to the Bronze Age. In the Balkan region it appears for the first time as a royal symbol on the bronze coins of the king of the Odryses Amadokos at the end of the 5th century B.C. The new find will be added to the exhibition of the National Historic Museum of Bulgaria......................................................................................

Note of A.M.: It must be noted that the double axe, the lavrys, was a central symbol of the Minoan civilisation on the island of Crete. This, then, is the oldest use of the symbol in the Balkan region, unless the term is used to the exclusion of what is today Greece.

Note 2 of A.M.: The double axe is found on coins of the island of Tenedos (Turkish: Bozcaada), in the entrance to the Dardanelles, dated to 450/387 B.C.

Coin of Tenedos (450/387). 0,48 g. It bears an ianomorphus head (female l., male r.) on the obverse and a double axe with the letters T-E on either side on the reverse. The heads on the obverse might be those of Tenes and his sister Hemithea. Künker 136 (10.03.2008), 628.

The presence of the double-axe is interpreted either as related to local myths of the island related to its eponymous hero Tenes, or a symbol of Dionysus. This last interpretation is interesting, as the presence of the lavrys on the coins of the Thracian-Skythian ruler Amadokos I and his successors is also likely to be related to the worship of Dionysus, who is known to have held special importance in the religious practices of the area (see for example the myth of King Lycourgos of Thrace). It is thought that the worship of this god was transmitted to Greece from the Thracian tribes.

Kouroi, made of the famous Parian marble are being discovered on Despotikon, the little island near Antiparos, by archaeologist Yannos Kourayos, who has been excavating a large temple of the Archaic Period dedicated to Apollo since 2001.

The body of a Kouros - from the neck to the waist - that had been placed face down on the lintel of a door, used to support the lintel, and at a different part of the excavation two large sections of legs - thigh and heel - of another statue, also a Kouros, preserved in excellent condition was the impressive find of this year, but not the only one. It is interesting that the body is joined to the lower part of a Kouros that had been discovered built into the wall of a building of the sanctuary in 2005. It is possible, according to Mr. Kourayos, that the head of a Kouros found last year belongs to the same statue!

In order to better understand this "collection" of sculpture that is coming to light on Despotikon, it must be noted that until now more than 60 parts of sculptures have been discovered, including five heads of Kouroi and one smaller one that belongs to a Kore, more than ten bodies of various dimentions and about 30 bases for offerings (Kouroi or votive columns).

The body discovered this year had been cut from the rest of the statue, it had been placed in the ground upside-down and two joint-holes filled with lead had been made to support the doors axle. It had been surrounded by marble blocks to give it better stability and the upper part had been flattened so that the plaque of the lintel could better lie on it.

But the most important element is elsewhere: despite the flattening of the surface, traces of the hand bend and placed on the breast are discernible. As mr. Kourayos says: "This type of Kouros is only encountered in Parian workshops of the end of the 6th century B.C., while generally the hand held bent on the breast is, as we all know, a characteristic of archaic Kores". It must be noted that only two other statues with this trait are know, the Kouros of the Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhague and one other half-finished statue, in the Museum of Paros, found in the stone quarries of the island.

The building in which the body was discovered is small, being of the shape of a Naos with a prodomos, cella and adyton, located on the North-Eastern side of the sanctuary. "It appears that it was built in the late Archaic Period, after the violent destruction of the archaic Kouroi", says mr Kouragios.

But why the destruction? As mr Kourayos explains: "I believe that it might be connected to the war between Athens and Paros, when Miltiades was sent to punish the island because it sided with the Persians during the Persian Wars. That was when the statues were destroyed and were reused as construction material".

Another interesting point of this year's excavation was the discovery of a stylobate for a colonnade that was constructed around 500 B.C. with seven columns of a height of 3.80 m. In the foundations of the stylobate parts of the left foot of an archaic Kouros of natural size and of excellent style, which were joined with a portion of a thigh of a sculpture found in 2005. Next to these the base on which a smaller Kouros had stood, on which three toes of its right foot are preserved.

A square, marble well of religious character - it was where the libations were made - dated to the early Archaic Period was discovered under the later plaque-covered floor of the eating area of the sanctuary. Six different construction phases were discerned in the North gate of the sanctuary, considered to be its original entry. A mass of ceramic dated from the Geometric to the Archaic period has also been discovered, confirming that the sanctuary was already active in the Geometric period.

Ancient Prespesinthos, as Despotiko was called according to the testimony of Strabo and Pliny, played an important role in the Aegean. In antiquity in was attached to an (even smaller) island, Tsimintiri - where the archaeological finds extend -, it was home to an important sanctuary. Its position was strategic, it had a well protected port, a view to Sifnos to the west and Antiparos to the East, and was covered in plants.

Pieces of ceramics found on the island with the inscriptions "ΑΠΟΛΛ", "ΑΡΤΗΜΕ" or "ΑΡΧΗΜΕ" confirm the cult of Apollo and Artemis (sanctuaries dedicated to Apollo existed on 22 other islands). Pilgims bearing offerings arrived here: statuettes and objects of all sorts have been discovered: bronze and ivory buckles, gold, glass or stone beads, seal stones, statuettes of faïence, alabstra and Corinthian aryballoi, an ostrich egg, knives, swords, loom weights, agricultural tools and everyday vases. A special find made a few years ago was the discovery of the statuette of a female divinity of daedalic style (680-660 B.C.), considered to have been the cult statue of the sanctuary.

The excavation is carried out by the 21st Ephorate of Antiquities, under the direction of mr Kourayos, with the participation of many archaeologists, members of the scientific team: Kornelia Ntaifa, Spyros Petropoulos, Thanasis Garonis, as well as students from the University of Perugia. The study of the architectural material is been carried out for the second year, including the material from the twelve buildings, by the architect and Professor of the University of Munich, Dr And Onesorg and Dr. Katerina Papagianni. The I. Latsis Foundation and the A.P. Kanelopoulos Foundation were the sponsors of the excavation.

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

After nearly a decade as chief of Egypt's antiquities, Zahi Hawass is now out of a job.

The 64-year-old archaeologist was fired yesterday by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf as part of a wider shakeup of his cabinet. Protestors at Cairo's Tahrir Square had been calling for his ouster as minister of antiquities for months. "All the devils united against me," Hawass told Science Insider.

The country's most prominent figure in archaeology, Hawass was instrumental in sending large blockbuster exhibits abroad, creating a host of new museums and secure storerooms, and pressuring foreign excavators to publish their finds more quickly. But he was also criticized for his portrayal on American television of archaeology as treasure hunting, excoriated for his dictatorial management style, and accused of shoddy research in carrying out his own digs. Sharaf is said to have appointed Abdel-Fattah El-Banna as Hawass' replacement, but there are reports that protestors have rejected that nomination, and that Sharaf might reverse his decision and name someone else.

El-Banna is an engineer and stone specialist at Cairo University with experience in restoring ancient buildings. He has been an outspoken critic of Hawass in recent months, accusing him of being involved in the illegal antiquities trade, a charge that Hawass denies.

Egyptian critics say they are delighted by the departure of Hawass, who became a minister in January when the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the organization he has led since 2002, was given Cabinet status. "Finally we got rid of him," says Amany Taha, a Cairo tour guide active in the protests.

But some foreign archaeologists say they will be sorry to lose Hawass, who has been a dynamic if controversial leader of the country's ancient monuments. "In the ensuing free-for-all, now that he is gone, I beg you to remember all the good that Zahi did for Egypt and Egyptian antiquities in his term as SCA," says W. Raymond Johnson, an archaeologist of the University of Chicago in Illinois who works at Luxor. "It's easy to condemn, much harder to give credit for what is due."

Hawass resigned in March to protest the looting of sites, but was recalled to help bring tourists back to Egypt. For now, Hawass says, "I will rest."

Zahi Hawass: the 'Real Indiana Jones'

Zahi Hawass was the self-styled real Indiana Jones, calling himself the keeper of Egypt's heritage.

Mr Hawass, the public face of the pyramids, was head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities for 10 years, and before that in charge of the Pyramids and Sphinx on the Giza plateau outside Cairo.

He staged regular press conferences unveiling new discoveries from the time of the pharaohs. He was made minister of antiquities in one of Hosni Mubarak's last acts as president.

Dr Hawass was popular among journalists, visitors and for a time Egyptians themselves for his flamboyant style and unchallenged commitment to promote Egypt's treasures and to use them to attract tourists.

He also led populist campaigns to return Egypt's heritage from museums abroad, most notably the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum.

However, local archaeologists accused him of stealing credit for their achievements, and "recycling" discoveries for publicity.

More seriously, as the Egyptian revolution unfolded, his finances, friendship with Mr Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, and management of resources came into question.

He was revealed to receive a regular income from the National Geographic channel, and was put on trial over the contract under which a company which marketed a "souvenir Hawass clothing line", including copies of the trademark hat, was awarded the rights to run the souvenir shop in the National Museum in Cairo.

He claimed that proceeds from the hats went to children's charities, of which Mrs Mubarak was patron.

Finally a memorandum that protects us (t.n.: the reference is to the economic memorandum). Since yesterday afternoon Greece has a strong ally in the battle against illegal exportation of its antiquities.

The American Foreign Minister and her Greek counterpart Stavros Lambinides, sign the memorandum in the Parthenon room.

For almost 10 years high ranking officials from the Greek ministry of Culture tried insistently to convince the United States to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the limiting of importation of cultural goods of greek origin.

Yesterday afternoon , in the Parthenon room of the new Museum of Acropolis, the foreign affairs minister, Hillary Clinton, signed the text with her Greek counterpart, Stavros Lambrinides; they even went a step further. It is the most extensive text of collaboration that the USA has signed with another country and includes works of art dated from the Upper Palaiolothic (c. 20000 B.C.) to the end of the Byzantine period (15th c. A.D.).

Legal documentation

But what does this collaboration between the two countries mean? No object unearthed in Greece will be imported to the US unless accompanied by relevant legal documentation of origin. This makes illegal commerce of greek antiquities more difficult, but also makes the procedure of return of antiquities to the country. Will the interstate agreement have retroactive character?What shall be the fate of antiquities that have already been illegally exported to the US? Before examining the actual text, no conclusions can be drawn.

Whatever the case it will by activated immediately. The next move of the ministry of Culture will be to send the catalogue of categories of antiquities (analytically described) that has already been compiled, so that it be published in the Federal Protocol of the US, so as to block their importation to the country.

Satisfaction was apparent yesterday on the faces of the officials of the Ministry of Culture. The effort had started during the term of Evangellos Venizelos as Minister in 2002. It was then that a special scientific committee to prepare the dossier. The procedure entered its final phase during this last year, when a group of Greek specialists was invited by the special committee of the US State Department in Washington to support the Greek request. Before sending its official request, the Ministry of Culture compiled a dossier that showed how the cultural heritage of the country was in danger from illegal digs and commerce. The General Secretary of the Ministry, then as today, was Lina Mendoni, who was present at the signing ceremony, as was the current Minister of Culture, Pavlos Geroulanos.

"This agreement that we are signing today will protect Greece’s culturally significant objects even further from looting and sale on the international market... We know from experience that measures like this work. This will be our 15th cultural property agreement. And in countries from Cambodia to Cyprus, we have seen real results.", underlined Hillary Clinton during her short speech.

Profitable BusinessThe commerce of Greek antiquities in the US continues to be an especially lucrative business, with a turnover of millions of dollars. For example, in only the six months of 2010 Sotheby's and Christies of New York, auctioned more vases that the total of the years 2005, 2006 and 2009. What is more, Internet's ebay has helped create a rapidly developing uncontrolled commerce.

The Memorandum of Understanding, know by its initials MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), was instituted in 1983 by the American Congress. The central part of each memorandum is the interdiction of importation of antiquities without proper documentation. In order to sign and apply the Memorandum, a Committee was formed, called the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC).

The suspect, while driving his car near Vassiliada village in Kastoria prefecture, was stopped by a police roadblock. A search of his car and later of his house in Florina revealed a large number of Roman and Byzantine era coins, other antiquities and photos believed to indicate locations where antiquities are buried.

Specifically, police found and confiscated 81 ancient coins, two marble statues from the Hellenistic period, the head from a female statuette, two copper rings, a lecythus, a medal, six clay seals, four copper brooches, two metal detectors, one perfume container, two USB flash drives and eight photographs of probable sites of antiquities.